Oviedo High drinker, driver sues school district

Dylan Ferguson says teacher gave him booze, the keys to her SUV.

SANFORD — An Oviedo High student who got drunk at his teacher's home, climbed behind the wheel of her SUV and crashed into two vehicles is now suing the Seminole County School Board.

Dylan Ferguson, 19, alleges the teacher, Meredith Witt, plied him with alcohol because she was romantically interested in his friend, another Oviedo High student.

Witt, 34, resigned within days of the Nov. 2, 2009, crash. She also was ordered to spend 30 days in jail after she pleaded no contest to giving alcohol to four teenagers, including Ferguson and another of her students.

In the suit, filed June 30, Ferguson alleges that Witt provided him with alcohol and prescription drugs for two years prior to the crash, an attempt to get access to the Oviedo High student in whom she was interested.

The lawsuit alleges the district should have known about that improper romantic relationship. If the district had done a proper investigation before hiring her in 2001, the suit contends, it would have discovered she was unfit to teach high school.

According to the suit, the district knew Witt was a problem teacher but failed to take corrective action. On that point the document gives no details.

School Board attorney Ned Julian was unavailable for comment.

The day after the crash, school administrators suspended Witt with pay. She resigned the following day.

Ferguson was a senior at the time of the crash. He was charged with drunken driving. He pleaded no contest to a lesser charge — reckless driving involving alcohol — and was placed on 12 months' probation.

A few months later, though, he was rearrested, accused of violating his terms of probation and served seven days in the Seminole County Jail.